Drought, famine, established powers on the edge of collapse, mass migrations from failed states to other countries: you may be thinking of the Middle East in 2022. Try 1180 BCE! 

Since our beginnings, the ache of exile and longing to come home have run through Jewish life and writings: our poetry is rich with them. We will read Biblical, Golden Age Spain, Modernist and contemporary texts, and write our own pieces in response. For writers of any experience level—come prepared to generate some material!

The course will address the eternal question, "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?" If God is a compassionate and loving God, why do people suffer? In an attempt to answer these questions, we will look at the Biblical books of Deuteronomy, Job, and Ecclesiastes, as well as looking at modern theologians. Bring a Bible.

Many of the creators of early German cinema (1918 - 1933) were Jewish immigrants to Berlin from Eastern Europe.  German Expressionist cinema, a revolutionary innovation, found Jews both in front of or behind the camera. The class features cinematic masterpieces that foreshadow the coming political storms. Femmes fatales and monsters abound in: THE BLUE ANGEL, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, THE GOLEM, and M.

In partnership with Urban Adamah

In partnership with Cong. Beth Israel

In partnership with Americans for Ben-Gurion University

4 sessions, Wednesdays, April 13, 20, May 4, 11  @ 7:00 - 8:15 pm. Virtual on Zoom.

Learn about the aesthetic-theology of kabbalistic diagrams—full of trees, circles, spirals, lines, and letters—and use these as models to map your own relation to that which is essential but intangible (what might be called spirit, soul, or the divine). Our first two classes will focus on the history of these diagrams, and the final sessions on how to create your own kabbalistic diagram. 

Jody Hirsh: Bible, Midrash, Art: The Richness of Bible Narratives (Virtual on Zoom)